Online Reviews: The Ultimate Catch-22

As I typed in the name of the restaurant, my trusty Google bar did its thing and auto-completed my entry: H-A-C…ienda de Vega. I check on a regular basis.

Cpajarillo is her screen name. No profile, no other reviews, no basis or credible information in her 234 word rant about how incredibly horrible we are. And yet it’s out there; out in black and white and for the whole world to see.

Online Reviews: The ultimate catch-22.

After 7 years of running Hacienda de Vega I’ve come to not only accept that online reviews are a fact of life, but I have learned how to leverage their existence to try to be better. There is a sinfully rewarding feeling when you are able to turn an angry, unsatisfied customer into a raving fan after listening to (or reading) their comments and taking the necessary steps to make it right!

For me, online reviews are a great tool to catch recurring problems, identify menu trends and to devise ways of increasing customer satisfaction across the board. For my customers, they are a great, non-confrontational, post heat-of-the-moment way to spill the beans (get it? – Mexican restaurant, spill the beans - LOL) about their experience. And whether it is to say: “I understand, I’m sorry, let me make it right”, or “Thank you for your kind words, I look forward to your next visit”, online reviews allow me to reach out to my customers and engaging in a constructive conversation.

So, when you read a review that is blatantly skewed, false and mal intentioned it makes you wonder (first you cuz, then you wonder): Who is this person? A competing restaurant? A disgruntled employee? There is absolutely no way to know or anything I can do about it. The real question is how many customers could I potentially loose because of it? And the answer is, again, there is absolutely no way to know or anything I can do about it. Very, very frustrating.

All you can do is hope that people can see through the obvious malicious tone and dig a little deeper. It’s not that hard. Does the reviewer have a credible profile? Does he/she post reviews on a regular basis? Are his/her reviews fair with some good and some bad? Most often than not, the answer to these 3 simple questions is: Nope!

Let’s go back to cpajarillo for a moment. Remember: no profile, 1 review total, zero constructive criticism and - oh I almost forgot one of the best tell-alls of a shady review – the “financial factor” (most reviews of a vindictive nature have to do with money). Her destructive rant begins by describing the four salsas we bring to the table at the beginning of a meal as “bland”. BLAND? I’ve had food critics, trade magazine editors, self proclaimed foodies and countless guests over the years describe our salsas in many ways: amazing, explosive, distinctive, addicting, too spicy, not spicy enough, too salty, not salty enough but never, ever, ever bland. “Competitor Alert”. Right there. Third sentence. I know.

The big problem is that most people don’t know that. Especially a prospective new customer that is doing research for a business trip, a family vacation or just looking for a new place to go. I know that because this is what I do. I go through my reviews on a regular basis. Did I lose this new prospect already? Sure, there are 53 other reviews and the average review is 4 ½ stars but will my new prospect get past cpajarillo’s? Especially if it happens to be the latest review and first in the search result.

Some online communities have begun self-policing their content. They require a tiny little extra from their users in order to validate their contributions. Simple things like a profile with a validated email address and a picture seem to weed out the dishonest but at the end of the day, all those measures are simple enough to circumvent. How many online profiles have you seen with the picture of Bart Simpson or an email address like eatmyshorts@mail.com ?

The age of food bloggers, online reviewers, social networking sites and everything-Tweet is here to stay. Restaurant owners can either try to (unsuccessfully) fight it, casually observe it from a distance or proactively embrace it and interact where appropriate. I prefer to do the latter, but I always take it with a bit of tomatillo salsa and a grain of salt.